Oracle's Moon (Elder Races #4)(20)

He laughed as he stood. The laughter was real, and it danced through his energy along with a physical ripple in his low, pure voice. She shivered, and a sprinkle of goose bumps rose along her skin. She’d had no idea that a Djinn could be so fascinating.

She shoved that thought aside as she spun her chair in another circle, more slowly this time. Then she caught sight of her computer screen. The saved-as-draft notification still showed on her e-mail program, reminding her of why she had called Khalil in the first place.

She turned back to face him. She needed to phrase this carefully so she didn’t waste an opportunity. Making sure that she said a statement and didn’t frame it as a question, she said, “When the Vampyres were here, we spoke of someone who was killed on the property earlier today.”

He gave her a thoughtful look. “Yes. I have since learned the details of the incident.”

She gripped the arms of her chair until her knuckles whitened. “What happened was an excellent example of how meaningless the law of sanctuary can be.”

“I cannot argue with that.”

Grace licked her lips. “The Oracle’s Power doesn’t work like other witches’ Power, and I don’t have offensive spells. I would like to…hire you, I guess, for lack of a better term. Do I have anything you might value enough that I can bargain with you for continuing protection for me and the children?”

Khalil’s expression shuttered. “Yes,” he said.

Five

Khalil watched with interest as Grace’s expression fell. Usually he enjoyed that look of disappointment on humans’ faces. He wondered why he didn’t this time.

She said, “I didn’t phrase the question right, and you answered me.” She rubbed the back of her neck and slumped in her seat.

For a moment, all the young human’s spitfire was doused. She looked so weary and discouraged, Khalil felt moved to…something.

He was not moved to point out that she was asking for something he had already granted her, nor did he see any reason to inform her that she’d already thrown away one favor. That went against every Djinn instinct he had. She needed to learn to pay better attention. Bargaining and negotiation were skills that every youngling Djinn had to work to acquire, and there was no better way to learn that than practicing in real life.

He might not have recognized “pull the other one” but despite how he had baited her earlier, he had in fact associated amicably with quite a few humans throughout his long existence, and he knew some slang and colloquialisms. He believed there was an appropriate saying for a time such as this. It was called learning from the school of hard knocks.

No, he felt moved to something else, something strange that he poked at curiously. He pointed out, “You are too tired to continue this conversation properly.”

She lifted a shoulder in a desultory shrug, her gaze unfocused. “I suppose you’re right. It’s been a hard day, and a rare one. I’ve never seen anybody killed before.”

That jolted him. Was she really that young and innocent herself?

She continued, drily, “Even though it was justified, I’m still rattled, although I doubt a troop of rabid monkeys is going to escape from the zoo and attack in the next few hours. I will try to come up with a bargain that interests you another time.”

What would it be like to watch someone else get killed for the first time and to know you did not have the Power to prevent something like that from happening again? His own Power roused and twisted upon itself at the thought. He would not like it. He would not like it at all. That was when he realized she had been so angry and contentious throughout the day because she had been frightened.

Perhaps this human was not quite so awful after all. He wouldn’t go so far as to admit he liked her. But even though the damage she had sustained clearly pained her, her lack of self-pity was respectable enough. And her cheeky attitude was unexpectedly amusing.

Then there were the children to consider.

He crossed his arms and sighed. “You will let me visit with the children anytime I wish.”

Her gaze shot up to his. She looked startled and suddenly very alert, and a touch of fire came back into her energy. Ah, that was better, Khalil decided. He had to admit: he did like her fire.

“No,” she said.

He lifted an eyebrow. “You’re the one who wanted to bargain with me,” he pointed out. “I am merely presenting a term that would be acceptable to me.”

She watched him with the kind of wariness with which one might watch a poisonous snake. “You can visit with Chloe and Max anytime you like,” she said, “but only when I’m present. I don’t want to see anything else happen like this talking cat nonsense.”

“That was not merely nonsense, as you say,” he said irritably. “I did have a reason for doing it.” Really, he was not usually so irascible. This female had a talent for bringing that out in him.

Grace’s slender eyebrows rose. She said, “I hardly dare to ask.”

His mouth tightened. He was not inconsistent either, and stating a reason for the purposes of making an argument was not the same thing as acting defensive. He said, “I merely wished to develop a rapport with the children, so that I would not frighten them whenever I might show up.”

Small indentations appeared on either side of her shapely mouth. What were those indentations called again? Ah, yes. Dimples. She said, “Aw, you wanted to make friends with them. You wanted them to like you. You were bribing them.”